20. Disappointment and celebrations

                                    

                                          


Kate had grown a distain for charms class. Being sat next to James for an hour felt like torture. His face was painted in shock when he saw her today. 
"Your hair!" He exclaimed in surprise. "It's shorter!" 
"Yes, I got it cut." Kate laughed as James reached out and tried to grab it.
"It looks nice." He said with a smile. "It makes your face look - nice." He didn't really know what to say, she looked great. 
"Thank you." She muttered back.
He didn't think about anything else for the rest of charms completely distracted by Kate and her new look. He would be lying to himself if he said he didn't find Kate breath takingly beautiful.
"It's your birthday this weekend right?" Kate whispered to him. 
"On Sunday. Are you coming to the party on Saturday?" He asked with a smile. 
"I haven't decided yet." 
Kate didn't know if she could handle seeing James and Lily's pda while drunk. She was sure she'd say something she'd regret and embarrass herself greatly. Maybe she would go but not drink? 
"What's the dress code?" Kate asked and saw James smile at hearing that she'd be there and her breath hitched. 
"Just what you'd usually wear to a party." James said. "See you there." 
He waved her goodbye as the bell went and she left, trying to get as far away from him as possible before talking to him would get to overwhelming. 
Why did she have to go and fall in love with James Potter who was deeply in love with Lily. 
She'd felt so stupid, it was in the fucking rules that they wrote that they shouldn't have fell in love and Kate went and did just that. 
-
James felt as if he was on top of the world as he was hoisted on the shoulders of this team after they had beaten Slytherin by a mile. All their mornings of intensive training including on the weekends had payed off. Not saying it wasn't a hard game, how bet they had won, best birthday weekend ever, winning quidditch in the morning, the party in the evening and his birthday the day after.
Once James had been let down he had sought Lily out in the crowd and had found her walking towards him. He couldn't help but be disappointed when she had ran up to him, no face paint, no hair ribbons. However he put a huge smile and embraced her none the less. It just wasn't her style to dress up for a game.
"Congratulations." Lily muttered from his in  shoulder. 
"Thank you." He said and buried his face in her hair.
When he looked up he saw Sirius and Kate hugging and him jumping her up and down and James didn't know why his stomach jumped when he saw it. 
"Kate, smile! We wonnn." Sirius said in an attempt to cheer her up. "And we get to get really drunk in a couple hours." 
"What drinks are going to be there." Kate asked with a snarky smile. 
"Whatever you want princess." He responded and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
Kate couldn't contain her laughter and did just that right in his face, bending over at the waist. 
"What the fuck are you doing?" Kate laughed.
"You'll thank me later." He winked and walked away from her. 
Kate span around in shock, confused on what had just happened and ran her hands down her face. 
She was sure that she couldn't handle another fake flirtation with another marauder.
God she was going to have to get drunk.
-
Kate could feel the floor vibrating from the deep base and instantly regretted her decision to agree to go to the quidditch celebration/ James's party.
Her dress was a faux silk, baby pink short dress, dotted with diamonties with thin straps, tying up in the back corset style. The dress had a deep red lining that slightly peaked out from the bottom of the dress and her slightly too large pink heels wobbled as she made her way down to the middle of the party. Seeing the huge crowd of people cultivated on the 'dance floor' in the middle of the common room.
Kate was instantly ambushed by Sirius holding a drink out to her as soon as she stepped into the main room. 
"Here drink this." He said and Kate looked at him skeptically.
"What is it?" She sniffed the cup. 
"Firewhiskey. Just firewhiskey." He confirmed with a small smile.
"You know, just because we both come from broken homes and have been disowned by our parents doesn't mean you have to talk to me." Kate snorted as the two walked around the room.
"I know I don't have to talk to you, I just want to." Sirius said and wrapped an arm around Kate.
"Who are you using me to make jealous?" Kate glared over at him. "Because I can't handle another fake relationship." She sipped on her drink. 
"I just like you Taylor, come dance with me!" Before Kate could answer she was being dragged to the dance floor by him.
Immediately she was hit with flashbacks from the halloween party. James's pirate costume, the first kiss, the kitchen, the agreement. 
"Shouldn't you be celebrating with James, It's kind of his birthday party." Kate said to him, confused on why he was spending time with her at his best friends party. 
"I know, I was going to convince you to come over." Sirius span her around and towards their group of friends and Kate rolled her eyes at his dramatics. 
Now that Lily and James were dating the two friend groups had merged, forcing Kate to spend time around James. She put on a smile, nonetheless. 
"Happy early birthday!" Kate smiled and sat down next to Marlene on the sofa. 
"Thanks." James replied, he had his arm wrapped around Lily and was slowly rubbing up and down.
Suddenly Sirius sat down next to her and threw his arm around her. 
"Black, I thought you got the hint that I'm really not interested." Kate whispered in his ear confused on the game he was playing.
"Just trust me." He whispered. 
"You're not very trust worthy." Kate countered. 
-
James couldn't explain what he was feeling when he saw Kate and Sirius cozy up together on the sofa. 
He felt his heart pick up and started to involuntarily started to glare at the pair.
"Hey, you ok?" Lily asked him, following his eyes to Kate and Sirius. 
"Yea, just tired from the game." 
She'd assumed that he was pissed that Sirius was spending time with Kate at his birthday party. 
The last hour of the party was spent with James glaring at Kate and Sirius and Kate looking sadly at James and Lily. 
Finally the group had departed and the party had ended leaving them to go back up to their dorms for the night, exhausted from the packed day.
The boys had fallen asleep but he just couldn't get Kate out of his mind. She had looked beautiful tonight, the dress had fit her perfectly. Just then did he remember he had a letter for Kate that he had never opened, being in pursuit of Lily and quidditch practice he'd just not had the time. 
He opened it.
James, 
Thank you for the past couple months, really I cannot thank you enough. 
I've had an incredible amount of fun and can't wait to see you happy with Lily. 
I think it's better if we don't talk as much anymore, keep the distance to let Lily get close to you. 
See you in charms 
Kate
It was a short, quick end to a unsuspecting breakup. She'd thanked him. And had been intentionally avoiding him, just to see him happy. Then he looked into the envelope and saw the necklace sat in the bottom of it. She'd kept the earrings, he smiled at that. Happy that he'd given her something she'd loved. Little did he know it wasn't just the necklace she'd fallen in love with.
-
an/ 
i am back to school in three and a bit hours; so updates will take a little longer so i'm sorry about that. 
i will be updating as much as i can but im being forced to do an extra hour a day so that's even less time to right unfortunately:(